Through the DirectManage Express or DirectControl Express downloads you can quickly and easily join a Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid) or 10.10 (Maverick) or 11.04 (Natty) servers and desktops to Active Directory. Using either of these approaches an intelligent install script is used to install the DirectControl Express agent and join the system to Active Directory.

Many Ubuntu users however prefer to install software packages like Centrify DirectControl Express using the built in package managers like Software Center, Synaptic, Adept, Aptitude, apt-get or others.

Recently, Canonical has certified and published Centrify DirectControl Express in both the 10.04 LTS Lucid and 10.10 Maverick and 11.04 Natty Partner Repositories. This article will describe how to ensure that the partner repository is available and describe how to install DirectControl Express and join a system to Active Directory...

Before you get started, make sure you have:

The sudo password and rights to install the software regardless of the method used.

The username and password of an Active Directory account that has permission to join a computer to AD.

NOTE: Both DirectManage Express and DirectControl Express normal installation methods automatically install the Centrify-Enabled OpenSSH package. The method described in this article does not. If you want to use the Centrify-Enabled version of OpenSSH you will need to install using either the DirectManage or DirectControl approach using the default installer.

Now you are ready to get started:

As there are many tools to do installations, I am only going to cover two of them - Software Center and the CLI using apt tools.

The first step is to enable the Lucid (or Maverick) partner repository where the DirectControl Express package is made available. Via the Software Center you need to select Edit ==> Software Sources ==> Other Software (tab) and make sure the checkbox is checked for the partner repository "http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner" (or Maverick or Natty) as follows:

You can also add the partner repository from the command line as follows (for lucid):

Once you have successfully install the centrifydc package you must join the system to Active Directory.

sudo adjoin -w domain.name

where domain.name is the name of your Active Directory domain.

NOTE: You will need your Active Directory administrator password to run this command. You may specify a user other than the default administrator with the -u option (--user). See the adjoin manpage for more information on how to run the adjoin command as another user.

Assuming this is successful you should be able to run the following command to verify the join:

adinfo

and the output should look something like this:

cowillia@ubuntu:~$ adinfo

Local host name: ubuntu

Joined to domain: centrify.se

Joined as: ubuntu.centrify.se

Pre-win2K name: ubuntu

Current DC: se-win2k8ent.centrify.se

Preferred site: Default-First-Site-Name

Zone: Auto Zone

CentrifyDC mode: connected

Licensed Features: Disabled

cowillia@ubuntu:~$ adinfo

Local host name: ubuntu

Joined to domain: centrify.se

Joined as: ubuntu.centrify.se

Pre-win2K name: ubuntu

Current DC: se-win2k8ent.centrify.se

Preferred site: Default-First-Site-Name

Zone: Auto Zone

CentrifyDC mode: connected

Licensed Features: Disabled

That’s all you have to do! You have now joined your Linux system to Active Directory! Verify authentication by attempting to log on to the Linux computer by using any Active Directory user account. When using Centrify DirectControl Express Edition, you are connected to the domain through Auto Zone, which is essentially one super zone for the forest. By default, when you join a domain by connecting to Auto Zone, all users and groups defined in Active Directory for the forest automatically become valid users and groups on the Linux or Mac OS X computer.

NOTE: GDM needs to be restarted before login for an AD user will work, the easiest way is to simply restart the system.

I Installed Centrify and followed the instructions and join the computer to the windows domain successfully… it instructed me to reboot..I then rebooted but when i reach the login screen and enter my user name and password it just bounces backIs there a special way i should type my AD Username to login ??

the PC is joined to the Domain becuz i can see the new name change in the DHCP server . .I’m locked out my Computer and i dont know why bcause my username/password is rightAny help will be appreciated…Thanks much﻿

And can you also post the output of the adcheck command? adcheck runs when you run the install-express.sh. re-run the installer and you will see the pre-install check run, cut-n-paste that output. see 1:13 into this video for what I am talking about ...